Jaren Kanak ready to get to Clemson after meeting with Brent Venables, Dabo Swinney

Kanak (left) poses with his high school coaches, Swinney, and Venables.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Dec 01 08:00:06 GMT-04:00 2021

Clemson commit Jaren Kanak played host to head coach Dabo Swinney and defensive coordinator Brent Venables Tuesday, and those visitors reaffirmed his commitment to the Tigers.

Kanak committed to Clemson back on July 30th.

His recruiting took off following a standout performance at the Sharp Performance combine in 2020, and continued through a strong showing in running the second-fastest 100 time (10.37) in all of Kansas during track season. Kanak is a multi-position athlete who can play either linebacker or safety on defense and has played wide receiver and returner in high school.

Kanak chose the Tigers over 34 other schools, including Alabama, Oklahoma, Michigan, USC, and in-state schools Kansas and Kansas State. He visited the Tigers on the first official day of the recruiting period opening up following extended time without school visits due to the pandemic.

Swinney and Venables visited Kanak at his school and his house.

“They were just restating everything they've been saying throughout the whole process,” Kanak told TigerNet. “Just saying what Clemson's all about, pretty much stuff we already knew. They updated me on some things and we talked about the season and how everything's going. And then they talked again about how they see me fitting in.”

Kanak will enroll in Clemson in early January and said he expects to play on the defensive side of the ball. TigerNet asked if Venables mentioned his name being rumored with the opening at Oklahoma, and he said no.

“We really didn’t get into any of that,” he said.

The visit was another chance to talk to the Tigers’ head coach.

“He was just like he always is,” Kanak said. “We talked. We were on our official visit not too long ago, a couple of weeks ago, and talking to him in person and seeing him talk to people and media, he’s all the same. He's just a really down-to-earth guy that knows what he's about.”

Kanak said Swinney opened up about the challenges of this past season.

“He is just focused on being where your feet are and taking it game by game, year by year and every year it's a different type of team and everything, and so he says that it's been a good challenge for him and a really good experience this year,” Kanak said. “And they're always going to want to work towards building the culture first, instead of trying to necessarily build a championship team, et cetera. He said that they want to build championship people and players and develop them and keep those guys in the program and that type of thing.”.

Kanak said the visit reaffirmed his decision to commit to the Tigers, and he said he can’t wait to get on campus.

“I think I just want to get my foundation set, get everything figured out, get into the swing of things and start making a name for myself there and try and be the best I can,” he said. “Definitely be a leader in my class and just start working my tail off and working towards my goals.”